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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Violence: a Cautionary Truth

“The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles."
― Mahatma Gandhi

Violence begets violence. The peacemakers through the ages knew this. People like you and me when exposed to brutality, senseless or purposeful-- we become changed. Things we never could dream of feeling or doing, a depth of hatred unimaginable materializes. A violated being is capable of the darkest manifestations. Violence happens out of a skewed sense of justice, moral authority, unchecked righteousness and rage. The expressions range from biting language to imposed or orchestrated poverty to crusades to holocausts.

And we are surrounded, nay bombarded with one type of violence or another almost continuously, from birth to death. Babies are "righted" in position and inclination, made to meet expectations in their feeding and sleeping habits, children are bullied and made to tow the education line frequently, hazing in college, premeditated cultural expectations on lifestyle choices for adults, neglect often is the elderly experience and various forms of abuse are endured through all continuums. Those in the military, in the middle or on the fringes of military conflict, are exposed at the very least to an inhuman rigid structure that can violate the "call and response" mechanism normal in the central nervous system. Ordinary we each have our daily doses, imbibed through negative media, environmental noise, traffic or toxic stimulation; or at least, that's how this sensitive organism takes it in. One of the responses to brutality is to turn it inward. Whereas harming others may not be an option in a moment, often we swallow or self inflict a strike on ourselves. We partake in obsession, addictions, worry, depression, have our own personal accidents and various levels of anxiety. Stress is rarely noted in terms of self-violence, but our failure to check stress often determines the personal level of suffering experienced.

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." -- Isaac Asimov

We can become mired in these indulgences rather easily. Closed throat chakras ban all truths from being spoken. The body is brilliant at shutting down, becoming numb, deadening the truth of what is. The psych denies, twists, forgets and minimizes. All of this, in the name of survival from the brutality being experienced or known.

"Social justice cannot be attained by violence. Violence kills what it intends to create." Pope John Paul II

Humans naturally have this propensity; it is the animal in us. Organic (and otherwise) competition often fosters the alpha qualities recognizable in our brethren, the beast. Ego and ambition pushes us in that direction.

Violence is a strong word to describe what may seem ordinary to some. How can it be used in this way? Because it is ordinary and exists in the very fabric of our individual humanity and collective culture. Violence is an inattentive force proliferated without awareness on oneself or another. No matter how seemingly benign (ie "righting" a baby to a feeding or bathing position that is comfortable for oneself but not asked for, indicated or required by a newborn being) when done without an intention or greater awareness, violates an others sense of self governance. This is so common it is rarely recognized as a type of strong arming. If one was more present at the moment, the recognizable taste of use of power by size, age, economic class or knowledge would be sensed and known as a major factor in the act.

"Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we ue a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. So violence isn't merely organized butchery in the name of God, in the name of society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper"--Jiddu Krishnamurti

How do we differentiate violence from say, discipline? Respect of other is always at the base of discipline and fully absent in violence. Also, there is an integrated intelligence which is responsive and not reactive in discipline. Energetically, violence is raw and ungrounded, usually unpredictable and ego driven. Whereas, discipline is a focused and aligned energy that serves as a guide without an agenda. Domination is an impulse born of fear; it is a basic animal instinct present in one degree or another, always. The more we bring a larger attention and awareness to our daily actions, the more we will know ourselves, become more available to our fuller humanity, the less this impulse will be tolerated in oneself, the less weight of myself violence will usurp. And we need this greater attention and awareness, because as Krishnamurti says above, the inner tyranny of violence can be quite subtle and it goes deep.

"In violence, we forget who we are." -- Mary McCarthy

Monday, February 4, 2013

Raising Up: Children and Parenting

I've had a few requests in the last month to write a post on children, the act of "raising" them, what "method" is reliable, what books to read, what tact to take. In no way do I assume a child expert role in this endeavor. But I have a huge affinity for the young person through their amazing and varied continuums and I have considered them in many respects, my most important teachers. So, here goes.

Children are an important influence because they are unrelenting models of the truth that everything changes all the time. As a new parent, you think you've got it down (ie: an eating or sleeping schedule), and right when you start to feel like you have your bearings in relation to them, it changes. Life as far as children go, is pretty much complete chaos (even if you are the organized type). Once this has found an acceptance in your solar plexus, you might as well relax and find your sense of humor (kids are excellent mentors in this area). Children help us to see we rarely know what we are doing, and that is as it should be. How could it be otherwise? You never parented an infant, three year old, pre-teen, teenager or young adult before. And if you did, all others following the first are incredibly different and require different responses to similar situations. It's always new. Because of this, we are given the gift of humility. The young challenge us in all ways to move/act/think/feel quicker than we ordinarily would like and give us an opportunity to get a view from another's almost continually open perspective. In a conscientious adult, children inspire us to wake up, grow up and be better human beings. Because of this, the act of parenting/mentoring others, becomes the act of parenting oneself.

Children naturally seek relationship. Their curiosity with the inside and outside world and the beings that surround them is unquenchable. They deeply observe, listen, imitate everything. They put things in their mouths to discover more about the object. (an incredibly interesting approach!). As I have seen it, it is the adult's job to keep them safe (without being overprotective) and to respect them, their current development arc (again, constantly changing) and who they are evolving to be. The bond we naturally have with them as a parent, complicates this basic approach and sometimes mires the process of their (and our own) evolution. Hence, the imperative need for other adults and models to be major influences in their life (and in our process). It does indeed, take a village to raise a child.

In children, we are reminded of our own possible resiliency and a life force that is insistent, hopeful and frequently present in Joy. In this awakening, the notion that we are supposed to be their life-model is turned on its head and it becomes apparent, it is the other way around.

In all this topsy-turvy unknown that goes hand in hand with being in the sphere of a child, how is a practically-fixed adult supposed to survive? Many of us take the dictatorial approach, attempting to control the chaos, becoming master-director, feigning a knowing to manage the raw energy ever present in the young. This approach secures our "adult" role and our ego's sense of omnipotence. It also occasionally is useful in a crisis. As a general modus operandi, it can be suffocating and repressive to the young who are naturally seeking autonomy, self reliance and self governance. Another common parenting approach is to ignore or deny manifestation, letting children raise themselves (emotionally) while abdicating this responsibility to them. Children demand (and deserve) attention; how one gives it determines the lesson learned, determines the relationship made between you.

As adults in the role of mentoring the young, we sometimes become fixed in the habit of directing and are swallowed by the conditions of too little patience (or being), too little time to support their self-discovery. We become almost completely reliant on structure and schedules to maintain some semblance of equanimity. Structure and direction are both ways that teach self-discipline, accountability and consequences of actions taken. Or they could be. For consequences to be a rich experience, there has to be an empathic feeling present in the adult; a knowing intelligence in this realm which proliferates despite the outcome of the consequence (that doesn't turn into sentimentality or variations of rescuing). Many times the structures and direction are put into place for the adult's benefit and comfort, but when the consequence reveals itself, the empathic feeling isn't present because the young person's well being or arising wasn't considered primary. Hence, the consequence falters, slides and becomes fodder for something else other than accountability. As was said previously, the presence of children urges us adults at all times to grow up and be better human beings.

In my post Violence: a Cautionary Truth, discipline is mentioned: How do we differentiate violence from say, discipline? Respect of other is always at the base of discipline and fully absent in violence. Also, there is an integrated intelligence which is responsive and not reactive in discipline. Energetically, violence is raw and ungrounded, usually unpredictable and ego driven. Whereas, discipline is a focused and aligned energy that serves as a guide without an agenda. Domination is an impulse born of fear; it is a basic animal instinct present in one degree or another, always. The more we bring a larger attention and awareness to our daily actions, the more we will know ourselves, become more available to our fuller humanity, the less this impulse will be tolerated in oneself, the less weight of myself violence will usurp. It would be noteworthy here to include violence as being sharp tones and language, withering looks as well as physical strong arming.

So, it may seem respect (without fear) is the cornerstone of relationship with children. Respect can exist only in the void of the perception of "otherness", that children are somehow less than us, we being their older (not necessarily wiser) counterparts. This sameness perception can be difficult to sustain in light of their diminutive size, dearth of experience, minimal maturity, limited vocabulary, lack of financial viability and cognitive weakness (frontal cortex of brain is not fully mature until age 26) which is the child's (partial) reality. An appreciation and value for humanity in all its guises is the root of respect we have for children (and all people).

Despite all the child-rearing expert literature (which changes regularly), we generally don't know what we are doing as parents/mentors. And we are in good company, because children don't know what they are doing either (they are visceral responders). This relationship is an exercise in exciting exploration. The great thing about kids is their forgiveness factor; it's easy for them. They thrive in making mistakes (until they learn otherwise), falling down and getting up again is an impulse for another adventure. They are completely cognizant of our weaknesses, frailties and shortcomings. And they forgive and even love us anyway, (even when they are testing us). They are fully aware of our adult sufferings, our struggles, our not knowing (even when we pretend otherwise). And they are unfailing in their compassion for this, and are appreciative when borne for their sake. They learn respect not from being fearful but seeing respect modeled. There is no hiding from children. You might minimize arguments and hostilities in a household, but they are extremely sensitized to the tensions that exist. Modeling non-violent communication for them (and yourself) would be a gift.

So, how do we navigate this impossible physical, emotional, mental task of a layered support for another being to adulthood? Understanding the objective developmental curve of the different phases or challenges in human growth would be good. Having this knowledge under your belt would help you recognize the phase when it is exhibited and give you a heads up in preparing how you want to deal with it when it happens. If I had known at the time, that part of an eight year old's development is about fitting in, mutual identification, not being wildly different from their social peers, I would have never put two different colored yellow socks on my son on a bleary, late-for-school morning. (Now 28, forever mischievous, he still occasionally reminds me of the peer harassment he received.) At 4 years old, this fitting in identity issue was not problematic (not part of that age development); when his shoes had been left home 200 miles away, we tied on to his feet bright yellow "grippy" rubber gloves and brought his antsy self to a playground full of kids to swing on the swings. I'm pretty sure the other parents were mortified at this half boy, half Daffy Duck, but I had gotten past that parent developmental hurdle by that time. (Fingers crossed, yellow is not a PTSD-inducing color for him today.) Knowledge about child (and parent!) development is helpful.

The "time out" concept was particularly helpful to me as a parent of young children; not only to allow a break in a mini-crisis for them, but a breathing space for myself to regroup my own energies and wits. Directives, negotiations, strategies, reasoning.... they all fail at one time or another. The only constant is relationship and the mutual respect that has been built; it is the foundation of who you are together.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

A Significant Movement

As the discourse continues as to why we as a nation are burdened with so many tragic homicides and mass murders, I am reminded to come to myself. I am reminded to feel my feet on the ground, my breath moving through this body, to feel the feelings. Like everyone else, I too have the desire to "fix" this, to throw a few directives into the mix and watch everything change to a rosier hue. But with feet planted and my breath not moving so freely, I feel the sorrow of the impossibility of this. Change is hard. Too young at the time to remember, I imagine the civil rights activists of the 1960s might have had several similar and sobering pauses. And even though we technically have more secured legal rights for all, garnered by the hard work of those vigilant activists, we still are plagued with prejudice, hatred, suspicion and separation for those different than us, whether they be of color, religion, political affiliation, age, geographic origins, class, gender, mental/physical wellness or sexual orientation to name but a few. What hasn't changed is an internal movement, the type of movement that actually is significant.

Violence is born from isolation and attachment; attachment to static belief and isolation from other (experiences). Isolated and attached, relationship is not possible; there is no room, no breath, no inner flexibility to rely on. Non-sensical violent actions transpire because most of me is not related. Not related to myself, not related to my environment, not related to others. I am not watching. I am not listening. Or if I am, it's superficial, not from a fuller, more embodied intelligence. Moving toward this intelligence must become our bottom line, not how much profits can be had (possibly a reason why mental health is not supported by systems: it's not profitable -in immediate dollar terms-, unlike most medical treatment). Cultural violence, which has been pointed out so tangibly in statistics as of late, has to be taken on. There is no singular magic fix. It's nature is complex. Personally, we have to own our own violence before the trickle down manifests. As was mentioned in my Violence: a Cautionary Truth post, violence can be subtle and insidious. This then, would require a greater ability to sensitize oneself to what is, a willingness not to turn away, a capacity for nonjudgment and acceptance of oneself (and others).

Sort of ridiculous to ask this of a culture at large? Yes it is. So, then I ask this of myself. And then I ask this of myself again. And I try to remember internal movement is significant.

Sonnet 07 - The face of all the world is changed, I think by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The face of all the world is changed, I think,
Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul
Move still, oh, still, beside me, as they stole
Betwixt me and the dreadful outer brink
Of obvious death, where I, who thought to sink,
Was caught up into love, and taught the whole
Of life in a new rhythm. The cup of dole
God gave for baptism, I am fain to drink,
And praise its sweetness, Sweet, with thee anear.
The names of country, heaven, are changed away
For where thou art or shalt be, there or here;
And this . . . this lute and song . . . loved yesterday,
(The singing angels know) are only dear
Because thy name moves right in what they say.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Body as Political Forum

In my posts Violence: a Cautionary Truth and Use: The Alexander Technique, I broach the subjects of the impact on the body by external influence. In other past posts I've supposed the malleability of the psych/body to cultural influence and the often disempowerment of self to these forces. In an article, The Architecture of E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E in Performa Magazine (http://performamagazine.tumblr.com/post/33854559841/), the suggestion our bodies are a political forum because of their materiality ties these deductions together. Author Cassie Peterson, puts forth some provocative conjecture: "The body is a material representation of the ways we exist in relation to the social (dis)order. In her essay 'How Can We Have a Body?: Desires and Corporeality' (2006), psychoanalyst Susie Orbach writes, 'All our known ways of being create physical and neural pathways that become constitutive of self, not just on a psychological level but on a physical, material level.' Much like Foucault, she believes that our bodies are constituted by the social discourses that shape them. She asserts, 'bodies are made, not born,' meaning that we become our 'selves' through repetition of language and social practices. Accordingly, E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E begins with a performer asking us, 'What’s the difference between uncirculated money and heart disease?'

Nothing. There is no difference. Social discord manifests as personal dis-ease. The social body is becoming in the physical body. "

a stylized (socialized?) image of the human form

She continues, "Our relationship to our bodies mimics the perpetual privatization of space and resources. We are socialized to dominate our bodies, to 'own' them, and shape them to meet idealized consumer standards. In 1975, Foucault wrote an essay called 'Docile Bodies,' in which he concluded that the more a body is coerced by dominant social forces, the more equipped it is to reproduce these same disciplinary forces unto itself and others. The more 'productive', economically viable, and groomed for service our bodies become, the less political force we have because we have become isolated in narratives of individuality and exploitation, ensnared in the competition and tyranny of the market."

This is a powerful and meaningful conjecture. Much of F.M. Alexander's work was about healing the impact of this relationship between the natural inner and the unnatural outer influences. But it usually takes much physical pain and kinesthetic dysfunction for a person to seek help in addressing the negative impact of the external world on their organism. For those who don't turn to a modality like the Alexander Technique to right the wrongs of this influence, doesn't mean they don't need it or their bodies aren't under this social influence. Trend and fashion are at our heels (literally; five inch stiletto heels being the rigueur of urban women), at our hem lines, in the trends of cultural cuisine and the neighborhoods we choose to identify and live in. As is indicated in Peterson's, Orbach's and Foucault's writing the apparel we cloth ourselves in force us to have a relationship with our body, for better or for worse. Not only does it actually change the way we move and behave in our bodies, it can't help but change our perception of social issues such as poverty and probably disables our awareness of pretty much everything but the superficial. To the impacted (us), this veneer becomes our reality. Social context becomes political.

Pina Bausch embodying the "let go"

As might be indicated by Foucault's writing on these dominant social forces, the "perfecting" of our physiques through rigorous "health" regimens is part and parcel of this concept, especially when done for appearance. This holds true for the perfecting of anything; a newly minted resident doctor once confided to me she was worried the medical training (which would include the social influence of the training) she had received would kill the right impulse she had in becoming the doctor she had hoped to be. So it is with the exacting training of being an artist and maybe more so, a dancer or musician.

The politicizing of the art of dance begins with the rigorous training and even "branding" of the type of dancer made. A dancer doesn't become the artist until (s)he lets the training go. It is only in the melding of the natural self to the almost militaristic trained self when the honest, authentic self is revealed and the art of it surfaces. Perhaps I speak of "performer" more than artist in this way, as I am not at all sure that a non-trained person is not a dancer-artist. I just know that the relinquishing of the material one's cells have adopted by virtue of a long and perfecting process (training) need to be surrendered before the genuine truth of movement can be known and seen. All those jetes and arabesques need to become fodder for the natural movement/expression impulses waiting in the wings.

All of this is an interesting premise in relation to nature, pointing once again to the enormous sensitivity of the organism. If our bodies are indeed "made and not born" and they are "constituted by the social discourses that shape them", we as material beings are as powerlessly impacted by our surrounds and social influence as we are by the automatic release of hormones coursing through our blood stream. There is indeed no difference between uncirculated money and heart disease.

So, are we damned to "become isolated in narratives of individuality and exploitation, ensnared in the competition and tyranny of the market."? What makes us free? (Is that an impossible premise?) Even though they too are subject to social influence and hormones (among other things), I turn (once again) to the young child for perspective; they are somewhat more free then the general population, social indoctrination not a huge factor until age five or so. Young children rest in themselves and their all consuming interest in Being and response. Their worlds are not huge yet (or is it miniscule?). They are Nature, heavily weighted in what Is; the body's process, sensation, the ephemeral. They are working on being indoctrinated, but they are not there yet. They are a little more free than you and me. What freedom they enjoy is one we could return to (partially) when we return to our more authentic nature also in our body's process, sensation and the moment. Unlike children, we have a more global, mature and experienced intelligence to support the notion of a freedom. It is dependent on an integrated intelligence, meaning an all of me that is informed, body, mind and spirit. Like the highly trained dancer or medical resident, a letting go of materiality is required in order for there to be a return to the authentic, a hope for a life to become art. And this is not an end product, a static performance, but a rich and moving process dependent on a cultivated awareness, deep interest and patience.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2012 Post Culmination

Season's greeting! Following is a handy-dandy group categorization of last year's posts (easy reference). Thanks for staying tuned in. Joy and robust health to you in 2013!

Nutrition
Food Fascism and the Convenient Microwave
Trojan Wurst II: SALT
Trojan Wurst 1: EGGS
Giving Thanks: Relationship in Food Preparation
FAT FACTS
Sustainability and Health
Food Glorious Food
Meddle with Nettle
Adaptogens: Love in a bottle
Play With Your Food
Water: the Elixir of Life

Exercise/Movement

QiGong: Imparting a Study

Designed to Move

MYSTERY: The Practices of QiGong and Authentic Mov...
Authentic Movement: a Larger Listening Intelligenc...

Sleep/Rest/Rejuvenation

The Fine Art of Self Soothing
Sleep Tight

Physiology/Bodywork/Healing

The Jester and the Healer

Bodywork, Energy Medicine: Whole Healing

Energy Field Surveillance

Use: The Alexander Technique

Reflexology as Informant

Making Scents/Sense/Cents

Somatic Healing

QiGong: Following in a Purpose-Prone World
Oneness: Ho'oponopono
A Sustainable Healing
Healing Practice: the Slippery Slope (Part II)
Memory: Portals and Thresholds

Healing Practice: the Slippery Slope (Part I)
Healing in the Unknown

Misc.

Good Life, Good Death: Advanced Directives

Advocating for a Loved One in the Hospital

Paying for Health

Finding A Healthcare Partner in a Practitioner
Place Travel: Experiencing Culture
Science Set Free:
The Body as Political Forum
Intelligence

If you are looking for specific subject posts (ie anxiety, relationship, etc), you can go to the blog and write the word in and all the posts with that label will line up for you. handy, eh?

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Surviving and Thriving During a Collective Crisis

"When everything is moving and shifting, the only way to counteract chaos is stillness. When things feel extraordinary, strive for ordinary. When the surface is wavy, dive deeper for quieter waters." --Kristin Armstrong (most decorated women cyclist in US history)

These are extraordinary times we are living in: calamitous, turbulent, and nerve-wracking. We have been forced to engage like we never have before. We witness the extraordinary power of democracy in action and the often terrifying forces challenging democracy. It has our adrenals and central nervous system working on overdrive. I am hearing and seeing the bouts of crippling exhaustion and despair from many. How can we survive and thrive during this crisis, especially if it is long and drawn out, as it appears it will be.

In my experience, the single most important quality necessary is self discipline. Without this, it is very easy to be pulled off our center of gravity, to lose focus, to become physically or emotionally disabled. These are the days when routine and purposeful activity is mandatory, healthy outer and inner habits leaned upon.

What does this mean in relation to the 4 fundamentals of wellness: rest, nutrition, exercise and spirit work/play?

REST: Make sure you get a lot of it. Try to go bed nightly the same time and wake the same time. If your sleep is broken, start employing self-care tactics to ensure a better night's rest.

Sleep is the most obvious aspect of the rest fundamental. But to give our sympathetic nervous system periodic breaks we should be having other relaxing actions as part of our day. Needlecraft's like knitting, crocheting is a great relaxer, helping get repetitive deeper breathing patterns in play. Playing an instrument, playing record/CD, radio music, watching funny or non-intense movies, reading novels. Know where your threshold is with stress and anxiety and take a break. Take a whole day off from social media or political activities and just have some guilt free fun. In a crisis, it's very important to have a lapse of engagement, where you are not thinking or acting on behalf of the crisis. And in that lapse, to feel joyous in the activity and not guilty you are not "on it". Pick your battles, you can't be part of every march and rally. Know what is the right action and when for you. Become aware of fatigue, burn out, depression and readjust your approach. Navigating this terrain for ourselves is very interesting as you begin to recognize signs and symptoms in yourself and the subsequent choices you make in caring for yourself. Self-discipline brings order and a healthy repetition. Following are some previous posts that might help with this. The Fine Art of Self Soothing, Modern Toiletry, Energy Field Surveillance, Sleep Tight, A Right Rest, Witnessing: Attention, Intention and Healing

"We adore chaos because we love to produce order." M. C. Escher

Photo credit: Lalu Danzker

NUTRITION: Inevitably, we will capitulate to comfort foods; it's winter and there is a crisis. Add some broccoli to your mac and cheese, make some good bone broth for the base of your soups-- very healing, and worth the effort. Cook. Cooking and baking and engaging in that way is very important. It slows us down, it put us in relationship with what we are about to receive, it's caring in action. Sometimes you gotta get takeout. Most of the time take the time to cook for yourselves and your loved ones. Following are some previous posts on this that might help. On Fire: the State of Chronic Inflammation, pH: It's all about balance, Bone Deep.

"Chaos is a friend of mine." "I accept chaos, I'm not sure whether it accepts me." -- Bob Dylan

EXERCISE: I bring this up a lot in my work. Exercise is a major stress buster, helping to regulate our functions and systems. Being mindful of all movement from washing dishes to just spending time in bed stretching legs and pelvis is bringing an attention to the body. It grounds us, creates a sense of the vertical in myself. When crisis hits, most of us fly into our emotional and mental responses, leaving our body disconnected. Our bodies are everything in a crisis; we depend on them for reality checks. Our bodies are constantly giving us cues as to the truth of the moment. If we aren't attending to the body, we miss the cues of what is going on inside and outside. Stay close to the body. Moving the body, the breath in the body opens up our perception; we think more clear, our feelings become regulated. I just said it but I say it again: the body is everything. You lose your connection to your body, you lose your groundedness, your sense of reality, and become subject to the craziness your feeling and head gets into without a relationship to your person. Without your body, you literally lose skin in the game. The body is an equalizing factor. We discount it, disrespect it, bemoan its inconveniences. We have to love it and we have to move it. Following are some prior posts centered on this fundamental wellness principle: Designed to Move

"The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies."-- Napoleon Bonaparte

SPIRIT WORK/PLAY:

Spirit work are activities that center our being. Obvious examples are meditation and prayer. Less obvious examples are walking with an attention to the body ("Zen" walking puts a name on it), Buddhist breathing exercises that open one's heart, and/or dispel negativity. Qigong exercises of bringing in images of patience, magnanimity and letting go images of hate and fear, are among a few. Spirit work grounds us in our internal truths and helps liberates us from the frantic, over kinetic external. It is peace-making. Play is wherever there is fun and humor, satisfaction and that which touches the essential in oneself. All of these can be found in the "mundane", such as knitting or cooking or car mechanics, or guitar playing to name a few. This kind of work brings us closer to who we are and our purpose, not from the activity itself, but from the internal engagement rooted in love of peace. When we get a frequent (self discipline!) taste of this, it becomes much harder to lose that vertical, to be pulled out of an inner, more real alignment. Prior posts that elucidate on this: Humor and Health, Prodigal Return: Community of Self, Oneness: Ho'oponopono,

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence. --Buddha

As separate as these 4 fundamentals might seem, they are actually deeply connected. They support each other and are often part and parcel of each other's expression. When they're working together (for the most part), I experience an established discernment. My mind quiets to the dramatic headline; it starts to look for plausibility, it becomes inqurious, the guile radar engages. My emotional intelligence kicks in without hysteria. Everything starts to work together. I'm grounded. My more whole self is centered. Thank you self discipline.

Become aware of energy: your own, others and the collective. Pace yourself. Step into the fray when your vertical is vibrating "yes". Be respectful of yourselves and others, others who might not be as equally aligned in a moment. Practice compassion as best as you can with yourself and others. Remember: Kindness. Be kind, no exceptions (even when your mad as hell). Kindness, like forgiveness, like love is a boomerang, it comes right back to you. And hate, fear, ego righteousness-- it does the same thing, it comes back to you almost immediately, toxifying what could be otherwise. So, for your well being's sake, be kind while you are being courageous.

Following are some essays that might be helpful:

The Collective: Group Energy, Anxiety: Inside the Box, Meditate? Do I Have To, Violence: A Cautionary Truth

Thursday, January 2, 2014

2012-13 Post Culmination

Season's greeting! Following is a handy-dandy group categorization of IntegratedMedPhiladelphia's posts (easy reference!). When looking for a specific subject (ie anxiety, relationship, etc), you can go to the blog and write the word in and all the posts with that label will line up for you. handy, eh? Thanks for staying tuned in. Joy and robust health to you in 2014!